Kirby: Twisted Skies
Kirby: Twisted Skies is a bullet hell shooter spinoff in the Kirby franchise. It was released in 2019 for the Nintendo 4D Viewer. Story Kirby wakes up one morning to find that two events have taken place - the sun and moon can no longer be seen in the sky, and the weather of Planet Popstar has been thrown asunder. With only his starship to guide him, Kirby sets out to try and see who is responsible for this. Kirby first passes Whispy's Forest, which is caught in a blizzard, then makes his way to Castle Dedede, which is under a deluge, assuming that King Dedede has something to do with this. Dedede proves innocent, although he guesses that the one behind these events is somewhere in the sky. Kirby takes this guidance and travels to Cloud Palace, which is under baking sunlight, before making it to Floralia, which is in the middle of a tornado. He ends up fighting Meta Knight here, and after the battle ends, he offers to fly Kirby to the heart of the tornado in the Halberd. Inside the tornado, Kirby encounters Sorina, a Person of the Sky who can understand the weather. Sorina initially attacks Kirby assuming that he caused the incident, but after the battle ends, she recognises him as the one who defeated Queen Sectonia. Sorina agrees to help Kirby, saying that she knows someone who could help him find a lead to how the sun and moon vanished. Kirby then flies further up into the sky, where he encounters Polaris, who serves as a messenger girl for the sun and moon. Polaris attacks Kirby at first, assuming that she has aggressive intentions towards her. After the battle ends, however, it becomes apparent that Kirby isn't in the wrong, allowing Polaris to explain the situation to him. Apparently, the sun and moon, also known as Mr. Bright and Mr. Shine, respectively, have been taken away by "a cosmic dragon". Polaris says that she had encountered the "dragon's apprentice" some time in the past, and knows that he is lurking around the planet Halfmoon, where nighttime never ends. When he comes near Halfmoon, Kirby encounters Minariu, the "dragon's apprentice" that Polaris was talking about. Minariu explains how his "master" had invoked these weather changes not just on Planet Popstar, but on Halfmoon as well, and had severed the link that Mr. Bright and Mr. Shine had to Popstar to prevent their influence from stopping the weather change. Minariu states that he will only tell Kirby more if he can defeat him. After the battle comes to an end, Minariu says that his master was doing this in hopes of bringing the other dragons out of hiding, saying that the dragons are attracted to the meeting of all four types of weather - snow, rain, sunlight and wind. Upon discovering that Kirby had unwillingly brought all four of the weather types on his starship on his way to Halfmoon, Minariu decides to retreat to Halfmoon for his last stand, deciding to defeat Kirby and use the four weathers together to bring the dragons back. Kirby manages to chase Minariu down to Halfmoon and defeat him once again. Here, he encounters Dracona, the "cosmic dragon", who notices the four weather types gathered on Kirby's starship. The dragon fights Kirby with the intention to take the snow, rain, sunlight and wind energy from him, using the changing weather on Halfmoon during the battle. However, Kirby manages to defeat Dracona, who gives up on his plans to bring the dragons back to Popstar and Halfmoon after being defeated. Kirby then returns to Planet Popstar, seeing that the weather is back to normal and that the sun and moon have returned to the sky. He also notices Dracona, ridden on by Minariu, flying through the air. Gameplay Kirby: Twisted Skies is a vertically scrolling top-down bullet hell shooter. During gameplay, Kirby flies along the stage in his starship, and must avoid a barrage of attacks from enemies as he does. The player moves with the Circle Pad, shoots by holding down the R Button, and can hold down the L Button to "focus", which slows their movement speed and alters their attack. Pressing the B Button will activate a Panic, which can destroy bullets and damage enemies, all while giving Kirby temporary invincibility. However, Panics come in limited supply - the player starts with three, and gains an extra Panic for every stage that they complete. The player has four hit points, and every time Kirby gets hit by a bullet, one of these hit points is lost. Upon being hit, however, all onscreen bullets will be destroyed, and Kirby will receive a brief moment of invincibility. Only attacks which directly hit the player's hitbox, which is very small compared to their character model, can deal damage. Once the player loses all four hit points, they lose a life and must start the stage again from the beginning (or from the start of the boss fight, if they managed to get that far). The player has three lives, and no way of getting them back when they lose them. Once all three lives are lost, a Game Over is received. There are several items to collect. Yellow Point Stars give points when collected, and reaching certain point thresholds gives you extra Panics. Blue Power Stars will increase your Power Level, which strengthens your attacks at certain intervals (10, 20, 30, 40 and the maximum level of 50). Collecting an Energy Drink will restore one hit point. Kirby initially starts with a basic attack, but is able to gain new shot types, referred to as "Copy Abilities", by inhaling enemies with his focused attack when he doesn't have an ability. After obtaining an ability, one can discard it by pressing the A Button. One can choose to play the game on any of four difficulties. The easiest difficulty is "Sweet Breeze", followed by "Mild Stroll", "Zesty Expedition" and the hardest difficulty, "Spicy Adventure". Shot Types In general, attacks with more coverage deal less damage. For example, an attack that has a long range, or an attack that homes in on enemies, won't deal as much damage as an attack which has a very short range. Most shot types can only aim forwards, and the few attacks that can aim backwards tend to deal less damage than forward-aiming attacks. Enemies Enemies do not change their attacks as the difficulty increases. Instead, they appear in higher numbers, but also give fewer Stars when defeated to make up for this. Bosses and Mid-Bosses Each boss and mid-boss has a fixed health bar, and changes their attacks depending on how much of their health bar is left. For example, if the boss has two attacks, they use their first attack if they have more than half of their health left and their second if they have less than half of their health. Little Woods The mid-boss of Stage 1. Note that Little Woods uses two attacks on Zesty Expedition and higher, and only one attack on the lower difficulties. Frosty Woods The boss of Stage 1. Because of the snowstorm in his forest, Whispy Woods takes on an icy form in this story. Lololo and Lalala The mid-boss of Stage 2. Note that Lololo and Lalala have separate health bars, although only one health bar is displayed, showing the combined health of the two. King Dedede The boss of Stage 2. Although not directly affected by the deluge over his castle, he seems to use a lot of water-based attacks in this battle. Kracko Jr. The mid-boss of Stage 3. Kracko The boss of Stage 3. As a result of the fierce heat in the Cloud Palace, flames come off the spikes on his body instead of electricity. Flowery Woods The mid-boss of Stage 4. Note that Flowery Woods uses two attacks on Mild Stroll and higher, and only one attack on Sweet Breeze. Meta Knight The boss of Stage 4. Sorina The mid-boss and boss of Stage 5. Mid-Boss Battle During her mid-boss battle, Sorina uses two attacks on Mild Stroll and higher, but only one attack on Sweet Breeze. Boss Battle Polaris The mid-boss and boss of Stage 6. Mid-Boss Battle Boss Battle Minariu The mid-boss and boss of Stage 7, and the mid-boss of Stage 8. Stage 7 Mid-Boss Battle Stage 7 Boss Battle Stage 8 Battle Dracona The boss of Stage 8, and the final boss of the game as a whole. Category:Kirby (series) Category:Kirby Games Category:Bullet Hell Games